Google Trends Rankings: Serial Killers

This edition of my Google Trends research focuses on serial killers. In order to limit the number of serial killers to five, I did a little web research and came up with my short list. All are from the United States. You may disagree with the list, but that is alright. Here is they are in alphabetical order: David Berkowitz (Son of Sam), Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, and Richard Ramirez (The Nightstalker).

First, let us look at this from an international perspective. The following seven countries, in rank order, search for these serial killers: the 1. United States, 2. Canada, 3. Australia, 4. Mexico, 5. United Kingdom, 6. Germany and 7. France. In all countries, Ted Bundy is the most searched. Jeffrey Dahmer is second everywhere but Australia. Here, John Wayne Gacy is second and Dahmer is third. Gacy is third everywhere else. Richard Ramirez is fourth in all countries, followed by David Berkowitz.

Looking at the results from regions within the United States, the trends are a little different. New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles are used as proxies for the west, middle and east regions of the country. New York, New York is tops, followed by Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California. In New York, the order is Bundy, Dahmer, Gacy, Berkowitz and Ramirez. Chicago searches most for Gacy, followed by Dahmer and Bundy, tied, then Ramirez and Berkowitz. The pattern is also different in Los Angeles. Bundy tops the list again, but Ramirez and Dahmer are tied for second. Gacy comes in at fourth, followed by Berkowitz.

Ted Bundy apparently still has wide appeal. Interestingly, the guys with nicknames did not fare as well, and using the nicknames in the search did not change the results significantly. The international appeal of U.S. serial killers is also interesting. Hopefully you are pleased you clicked that link. Check back for more studies.

References:

All research conducted using Google Trends.

Answers.com: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_are_the_10_worst_serial_killers_in_the_US

Hasan: http://www.dirjournal.com/info/americas-famous-serial-killers/